Letters to the Editor - Kids need Head Start - Kids need Head Start

With the recent budget cuts due to the sequestration, low-income children will be suffering the consequences in building their foundation for their future. The effects of the sequestration will end Head Start for 700 children in Minnesota and 70,000 children nationwide. Head Start is an organization that is dedicated to serving low-income child ages birth to five years old. Head Start has been serving these children since 1964 when the war on poverty began. Due to funding, even before the budget cuts, Minnesota’s Head Start is only able to provide services to 23 percent of families that qualify for their program. My question is where does that leave the other 77 percent of families that qualify? 

Head Start combines early childhood learning research with family development to prepare children for school readiness. Their success is built on a partnership between the staff and parents of these young children. Head Start gives these children the tools they need be ready for kindergarten but since their budget is tight they are unable to provide these children with a successful transitional program. Kindergarten is a very different world from any preschool or home environment. Kindergarten is where the foundation for learning is built. During this time children learn skills and techniques that will help them have a successful foundation for learning. With this strong groundwork they are able to flourish in life. The transition to Kindergarten is difficult for any child but when you have a child who is dealing with additional stresses at home it is harder for them to adjust to this transition. Many of these families are dealing with stresses that are within their family, the neighborhood they live in or in the government policies that provide services to these families. These stresses many times lay on shoulders of a single mom or dad who is trying to raise their children in this world. If we truly want a better world why are we not investing in our children and their future? Tell your legislator we need more funding for early childhood education. 

Jeanette Olsen,

Cleveland